In the first reading of today's liturgy, Joel 2: 12-18, the prophet invites us to "[r]end our hearts,not our garments..." during this holy season of Lent. We are reminded that Lent is a time of conversion, of interiority, a time to "return to the Lord...For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger and rich in kindness..." (Joel 2: 12-18).
I thought of a small child who begs mom and dad to visit "Grandpa and Grandma?" Why? Grandmas and Grandpas are "kind and merciful," loving and caring. Hence, the child wants to be with his/her grandparents.
That thought led me to Jesus' words: Let the children come to me because of such is the Kingdom of heaven and unless you become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom. If our image of God is of Someone who is "gracious and merciful," "slow to anger" and "rich in kindness", what keeps us from turning, or returning, to the Lord every day to bask in that love? Why do we not, everyday, sit with the Lord, gazing upon the Lord with love and letting the Lord gaze back at us in love (God knows no other way to relate to us because God is love)? What restrains us from taking time to be with the Lord in an empty Church or in the quiet of nature or in the silence of our hearts--all noise silenced--to simply rest with God, commune with God, love God in the depth of our being?
What if our resolve this Lent would be to "rend our hearts, not our garments"?
No comments:
Post a Comment